Articles of Note

Thoreau and mortality. His brother’s death drove him to science — even ornithology — in an ontological quest... more »

New Books

The precarious history of “Las Meninas.” Velázquez's masterpiece was thrown out of a second-story window, nearly bombed by Franco, and dangled from a speeding train... more »

Essays & Opinions

To get inside the head of Shostakovich, a rampant musical individualist, should we turn to the realism of history or the imaginative offerings of fiction?... more »